Stoke City 2 - 4 Sheffield Wednesday

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Saturday Oct 20 2007 03:00

Struggling Sheffield Wednesday scored two late goals to record a much-needed win and inflict on Stoke City their first home defeat since February.

A lively contest looked to be heading for a draw until Marcus Tudgay headed his second goal of the game from Graham Kavanagh's 85th-minute corner.

And Wednesday wrapped it up two minutes later when Deon Burton's 20-yard shot took two deflections to leave Steve Simonsen stranded.

The first half was a defensive horror show and contained four goals which must have made both managers squirm.

Stoke took an 12th-minute lead when Richard Wood failed to deal with Andy Wilkinson's punt forward and Ricardo Fuller bullied him out of the way, side-stepped Michael Johnson and placed a 14-yard shot past Lee Grant.

But Wednesday were soon on level terms as the elusive Jermaine Johnson turned inside Wilkinson with ease and then had acres of space to fire in an unstoppable left-foot shot.

Stoke's rearguard was looking unusually ragged and they were carved open again when the visitors took a 23rd-minute lead.

Tudgay's initial shot struck a post, but the striker made no mistake with a six-yard header after Burton O'Brien looped the loose ball back into the danger area.

Wednesday then held the upper hand, with O'Brien almost adding a third before Lee Bullen gifted Stoke a 41st-minute equaliser.

The full-back attempted to head the ball back to Grant, but Fuller was onto it in a flash to nod past the stranded keeper.

The defensive frailties continued at the start of the second half as Tudgay blazed wide when well-placed and Fuller threatened again at the other end.

Man-of-the-match Fuller then laid on two excellent chances which were fluffed by Richard Cresswell and John Eustace during Stoke's best passage of play.

And Wednesday made them pay to lift the pressure on manager Brian Laws.

  • 90
    The ref has blown his whistle for full time.
  • 90
    Deon Burton goes into the referees book for unsporting behaviour.
  • 88
    Jermaine Johnson is being taken off, Akpo Sodje has come on in his place.
  • 87
    Goal!! Sheff Wed have scored with Deon Burton putting it in the back of the net.
  • 85
    Goal!! Marcus Tudgay scores for Sheff Wed.
  • 63
    Jon Parkin is replaced by Peter Sweeney.
  • 58
    Dominic Matteo goes into the referees book for unsporting behaviour.
  • 55
    Richard Cresswell is booked for unsporting behaviour.
  • 46
    The second half is under way with the score currently at 2 v 2.
  • 46
    Lee Bullen is replaced by Richard Hinds.
  • 45
    Half time whistle is blown by L Mason
  • 41
    Goal!! Stoke have scored with Ricardo Fuller putting it in the back of the net.
  • 34
    Francis Jeffers is being taken off, Deon Burton has come on in his place.
  • 30
    Ryan Shawcross is booked for unsporting behaviour.
  • 23
    Goal!! Sheff Wed have scored with Marcus Tudgay putting it in the back of the net.
  • 16
    Goal!! Jermaine Johnson scores for Sheff Wed.
  • 12
    Goal!! Stoke have scored with Ricardo Fuller putting it in the back of the net.
  • 0
    It's 3pm on Saturday, October 20th, the match has kicked off.

Statistics

Stoke City
Shots on target 5
Shots off target 4
Shots off bar/post 0
Fouls 14
Offsides 0
Corners 3

Sheffield Wednesday
Shots on target 8
Shots off target 7
Shots off bar/post 1
Fouls 11
Offsides 1
Corners 4

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